The Ministry of Finance has officially communicated the Federal Government’s decision to eliminate VAT and customs duty payments on cooking gas imports, as revealed in a letter addressed to various government entities.
The letter, dated November 28, 2023, and signed by Minister of Finance Wale Edun, conveys the government’s intention to waive customs duty and value-added tax (VAT) on the importation of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), commonly known as cooking gas, and its associated equipment. The primary objective of this measure is to drive down the overall cost of cooking gas nationwide.
The recipients of this communication include the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
Minister Wale Edun emphasized in the letter that this initiative is geared towards reducing the cost of cooking gas, thereby enhancing its accessibility to the general public.
Recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics has highlighted a consistent increase in the average cost of cooking gas on a month-on-month and year-on-year basis. The Cooking Gas Price Watch for October 2023 revealed a 14.04% month-on-month surge in the average retail cost for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas), escalating from N9,247.40 in September 2023 to N10,545.87 in October 2023.
